hi everyone! greetings from hanoi!

i've got a bit to write in this entry- finding computers that will let me use this blog site has been a far more difficult task than i imagined; hence why i havent updated since nha trang.

After a very relaxing time in nha trang i headed on the overnight sleeper bus to hoi an. They have these crazy buses over here for overnight journeys- they are reclined seats that are like beds; one on either window side of the bus, and one in the middle. ive got some photos so will put them up!

hoi an is beautiful- sooo glad i stopped there and i honestly could have stayed for a few more nights. it is this tiny quiet little town which was really refreshing from nha trang and saigon. its filled with little streets/alleyways and the arcitecture of the buildings is very old fashioned french influenced. I met some people there who i ended up travelling with further up the coast, and ran into the nz couple i met in saigon, claire and cameron, who i ended up running into at every stop along the way and hanging out with. i guess because vietnam is one long strip of coastline you'll easily run into people doing a similar itinerary.

hoi an was hot; and i mean 41 degrees, 80% humidity hot. on a tour to the myson ruins i sat at the back of the bus with about 5 others travelling on their own and met bobby, a scot and cheryl, a brit who i would later travel with. i swear the majority of that day was spent avoiding the sun and trying to find shade as the stone from the temples let off heat making it more unbearable... add a fair few beers in the afternoon and you find yourself fairly delirious! there was a really funky bar in hoi an that we found that night; as well as more 'same same, but different' cafes!

onwards i went to hue after 2 nights in hoi an... surprise surpirse- hue was boiling hot too!!! the first afternoon bobby and i headed to the imperial palace on the back of a motos as he had a few hours stop over before heading up to hanoi. imperial palace was well worth going to; except the majority of it was ruined by US bombs in the war- only about 20 of the 120 temples/buildings remained.. we walked around the outside moat and saw a random wild elephant having a bit of a graze in the field- no fences or anything; was tempted to go a little closer to check out but i don't really like the idea of being stampeded by an elephant on my holiday!

I found a place to stay for $3 USD in hue in a dorm; had to use a mosquito net at night because there were 2 small fans in the room for 10 people but was so worth saving the cash.

I went on the DMZ tour the next day and met an aussie, Damo, Kiwi, Kyle and an Irish, Izzy. The tour took us almost half way up to hanoi then inland close to the border of laos. The vinh tunnels were great- alot higher than cu chi but we got to go through 700m and go down over 23 metres. the tunnel took you out to the beach intially then returned back to the entrance. we also headed up into the highlands to see the rock piles and the environmental effects of agent orange on the landscape, the ho chi minh trail and the khe san combat base. It was a long day of driving but well worth it. at khe san locals were trying to sell dog tags and medals they'd recovered for as little as $3 but it was so inappropriate to sell them- i don't know how someone could buy one unless they had the intention of trying to locate the family members and send them on. We went out that night to the DMZ bar in hue and managed to have dinner and a fair few drinks for a grand total of $8 USD! we wrote our names on the walls/roof of the bar to leave our mark in the town.

the following day i spent most of my time trying to avoid the sun and the heat. i wandered across the bridge to check out the perfume river and settled in the air con of a co op to read my book for 2 hours during the hottest part of the day.

that night i headed up to hanoi with kyle and met up with cheryl and we organised a 3 day trip to halong bay. we went to a water puppets show that night for a grand total of $1 as figured better do something cultural. wandered around the lake in the middle of hanoi and found the famous 30cent ice creams. hanoi i so much different than saigon- i really have enjoyed vietnam more and more the further north i go. It is less capitalist- less big signs and, well, there's still craziness but it's not as bad. the old quarter is little alley ways full of shops and cafes and bars and buzzing with people and goddamn bikes- everywhere! there's little side stalls selling home brew beers for 20 cents which are pretty damn good to be honest!

halong bay was awesome- really nice boat-very impressed! we docked and went into a huge cave then went kyaking around the islands (which is pretty hard work!) when the boat docked for the evening it was time for jumping off the boats deck into the ocean; climb the ladder, and go again! that night; karaoke... no- i'm not a huge fan of karaoke normally but it sorta gets fun when your signing silly songs and you've had a few and need to make your own entertainment- we (well, cheryl, kyle and i-apologies for the others on the boat) had a few (we smuggled $1 bottles of vodka onto the boat) and sang the likes of hit me baby one more time, livin on a prayer, superfreak, locomotion, love potion no.9, downunder,billie jean... and more that i don't remember until i hear the song playing and have a terrible terrible flashback of my bad bad singing voice!

the following day we went to cat ba island and did a bike ride through the national park. later we went to a remote island- when we arrived the only people on it was a gay couple who had a little table, chairs and a white table cloth out having a romantic lunch-we felt a bit bad intruding and tried to swim away from them. then a group of about 15 locals arrived; jumped in with their clothes on; screamed, yelled, splashed water everywhere.. we were pretty stoked when they moved on!

back to hanoi we had final night out before kyle and cheryl flew out of vietnam to continue their travels. kicked out of the first bar because they were closing, second bar the vietnamese police came in and kicked everyone out onto the street because it was meant to be closed; a local offered to let me have a go of his cyclo so at about 1am i'm riding this cyclo down the dead empty streets of hanoi with kyle in the front and cheryl taking photos- fairly random! we found a bakery still open and sat at the back having a beer before heading back to the hotel.

last night i had a bit of a wander and had a few drinks at a french bar and met a fellow brisbanite who had been teaching english in china for the past 3 years.

this morning- trying to find an internet cafe that #1 works; #2; has word or adobe; i managed to get attacked by a chicken.. yes- i am walking the streets of vietnams capital and got attacked by a chicken. i saw it in front of me looking a little lost wantint to cross my oath- i thought 'that's a little random' so i stopped- to let the chicken cross the footpath/road (ha ha) i then continued walking and this thing went into defence mode ran at me as i felt this thing attacking the back of my leg- i turned around and this chicked is full on pecking at me.a local who was carrying 2 big baskets of fruit with a plank of wood on her shoulder saw and came to the rescue before i could even react she was abusing the chicken, kicking it etc... hmmm... i just kept walking... ha ha... the rest of today- wandering until my overnight train to sapa leaves tonight; heading on a 2 day trek before i return to hanoi to make my way onto ireland where camping at dingle is in store for the long weekend!

hope everything is going well back home- will try and upload some more photos soon!

xo